Wine grapes grow almost exclusively between thirty and fifty degrees north or south of the Equator. The world's most southerly vineyards are in the South Island of New Zealand near the 45th parallel. Grapevines prefer a relatively long growing season of 100 days or more with warm daytime temperatures (no greater than 95°F/35°C) and cool nights (a difference of 40°F/23°C or more).

The 13 largest export nations (2005 dates) – Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Chile, the United States of America, Germany, South Africa, Portugal, Moldova, Hungary, Croatia and Argentina. In the United States, California accounts for the largest share of wine producers, including Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, Monterey, Paso Robles, and Santa Ynez. The vineyards of Algeria used to produce many fine wines, especially during and immediately after the era of French colonization, but civil strife since the 1970s has greatly reduced this industry.

The leaders in export volume by market share in 2003 were:

		France, 22%			Chile, 6%
		Italy, 20%			United States, 5%
		Spain, 16%			Portugal, 4%
		Australia, 8%			Germany, 4%

Top 10 Wine Producing Countries

(volume - millions of hectolitres excluding wines for brandy)

 

Share of global production 2004	Country	1999	2004	2008	2004 v 1999	2008 v 2004
22.5%	Italy	58.073	49.500	49.750	-14.7%	+0.5%
18.6%	France	51.036	48.000	47.500	-5.9%	-1.0%
15.6%	Spain	33.720	40.300	42.000	+19.5%	+4%
7.6%	USA	15.642	19.750	21.000	+26.3%	+6.3%
5.4%	Australia	8.511	13.890	14.900	+63.2%	+7.3%
5.2%	Argentina	15.888	13.500	12.500	-15.0%	-7.4%
3.1%	Germany	12.123	8.100	7.700	-33.2%	-4.9%
2.9%	Portugal	7.859	7.550	6.750	-3.9%	-10.6%
2.6%	Chile	3.174	6.700	7.650	+111.1%	+14.2%
2.5%	South Africa	5.959	6.479	8.800	+8.7%	+35.8%
82.8%	Global Total	257.600	258.119	274.775	+0.2%	+6.4%

Source: Vinexpo/ The IWSR 2005